Is there life out there?
by redheadturkey
Summary: Tifa ponders her life with now with Cloud just after the bar closes, wondering if this is really still what she wants.


Is there life out there

by Diane Kelley

Ruby-toned eyes peered out the window of the new Seventh Heaven as the dark-haired barkeep listened to the sounds of the spikey-haired lbond and the younger brunette she'd adopted snoring in peaceful, contented slumber. Tifa, however, was wide awake. Her mind was too awash in thought to even think of sleep as she stared at the ring on her finger. Cloud had finally consented to marrying her, making an honest family out of herself and him and Denzel.

_She married when she was twenty_

_She thought she was ready_

_Now she's not so sure_

All of the adventures she'd had, and now she was not much more than a glorified housewife, keeping the bar and their small apartment neat and tidy, serving the customers. But was she really happy? Or was there more out there for her?

_She thought she'd done some living_

_But now she's just wonderin_

_What she's living for_

_Now she's feeling that there's something more._

She had watched her two most loyal customers, Reno and Rude, leave at closing, watching the slender redhead drape his arm over the stockier man's back in the way Cloud had once done with her. When she'd seen it, she'd let a soft, wistful and slightly sad smile touch her lips.

_Is there life out there_

_So much she hasn't done_

_Is there life beyond_

_Her family and her home_

_She's done what she should_

_Should she do what she dares_

_She doesn't want to leave_

_She's just wonderin_

_Is there life out there_

'Why is it,' She asked herself. 'those two have what I wanted with Cloud? They have love, friendship, and adventure. Their lives are far from stagnant, but they always have each other to rest on when things get hairy.'

"Gah" she said aloud. "I'm not jealous of two Turks, I'm not. ..especially two whom have solace only in each other. . .Heck, Reno couldn't even land a woman, he ended up with his male partner."

'Then why' a little voice inside her asked. 'do you feel just that tiny twinge of envy every time you catch Reno practically trying to climb Rude like a ladder in the alleyway when they leave, hmm?'

She harrumphed at the tiny voice, pouring herself a glass of brandy.

_She's always lived for tomorrow_

_She's never learned how_

_To live for today_

_She's dyin' to try something foolish_

_Do something crazy_

_Or just get away_

_Something for herself for a change_

'Maybe' it said again 'because they have everything you've ever wanted. They've learned how to live in the moment as much as they do for the future.'

_Is there life out there_

_So much she hasn't done_

_Is there life beyond_

_Her family and her home_

_She's done what she should_

_Should she do what she dares_

_She doesn't want to leave_

_She's just wonderin_

_Is there life out there_

She shook her head again, curling up in the armchair as she often did when lost herself in her own thoughts and did not want to wake up her husband and her son. She remembered last Christmas, when Reno and Rude had shown up with Reno's son from a past relationship that the two had adopted. Rennan and Denzel got along like two peas in a pod, the younger little redhead idolized the older boy.

_There's a place in the sun that she's never been_

_Where life is fair and time is a friend_

_Would she do it the same as she did back then_

_She looks out the window and wonders again_

"Would I still have married him if I knew then what I do now? Or would I have simply taken on Denzel on my own and taken on whatever life threw at me? Really, I don't know." She mused, picking up the photograph of the two who had her pondering these thoughts, Reno in the photograph with one hand stretched langorously across Rude's back, the other holding his son up onto his hip. The three looked so happy.

_Is there life out there_

_So much she hasn't done_

_Is there life beyond_

_Her family and her home_

_She's done what she should_

_Should she do what she dares_

_She doesn't want to leave_

_She's just wonderin_

_Is there life out there_

Tifa then just shook her head with a tiny smile before wandering back into the bedroom, curling up behind her husband.


End file.
